Dandelion or Fire?
by TSLODrawks
Summary: Katniss has to decide between Peeta and Gale, but who would she choose?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

**So I think I'm going to try something new this time... I've been thinking about this for months, but I just didn't have the energy to get my lazy ass in front of my computer screen. But here I am! **

**So, what will be new this time? Instead of my usual Suite Life stories, I'm going to write about... *drumroll please* THE HUNGER GAMES! I lay on my bed at night fantasizing about Katniss and Peeta and wondering what if... what if...**

**What if I did a plot twist? **

**So here's my dreams turned into (dull) words by yours truly.**

**Some of the parts may not fit perfectly, but I'm trying to make this flow as smoothly as possible, please forgive me if it seems confusing, I try reading it over so it makes sense, but since I planned the story, I know what going on in my own mind, but you don't and really, I'm trying hard to make this flow as smoothly as I can.**

**_Read the Hunger Games, Catching Fire and finally Mockingjay, but stop right when she says, "Peeta and I grow back together. There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway."_**

_Dandelion or Fire?_

Katniss' Point Of View

Peeta and I grow back together. There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway.

But something feels... wrong. My hunger for his... love... was just wrong. He was like my medication. Morphine. I shake my head, trying to push the thought out of my head. But it was impossible. So why try to deny it? The only reason I wanted this boy was because I know that... I would never lose him ever again. No, he was always here. Unlike Gale. Always disappearing. I imagine Gale moving so swiftly through the woods. How he could disapear in a matter of seconds... He was just so easy to lose. So easy to slip away from me... But Peeta... he would always be here for me... he would never leave me... he... he would die for me, I would do the same too, but would Gale? Would Gale risk his life to save mine? The way Peeta had? No, he would make sure I lived, but... then what?

I imagine Gale moving through the woods again... I close my eyes and feel the peacefulness flood through me. I'm thrown back when I was twelve and he was fourteen. I see myself inspecting his snare, the first time I've ever heard his voice... Us working a team... Friends... Hunting... but suddenly, the setting is different. We're deep in the woods, our arrows drawn. I'm behind him. He takes the lead... And suddenly, I see that his bow is lifted and the next thing I know, I hear the whizz of the arrow shooting through the wind and hitting its target. What follows is familiar to the both of us - the helpless cry of the deer - but somehow, this time, it startles me.

The helpless cry... echoes through the walls in my head and images of Prim flash through my head. I start gasping for air and I have to grab the end of the kitchen table to snap back to reality. I remind myself that everything is over, but suddenly, I see the biggest difference between Gale and Peeta. I have never made a comparison between Gale and Peeta during the Games because I knew it wasn't fair to judge them on two different situations, but... this. The fact the Gale - and I - could kill an innocent animal just to make sure there's food on the table for our families... is what differentiates us from Peeta. What differentiates Peeta from Gale...

Gale and I have been through the same things - the tough times - when both our fathers were killed in the mine explosion. But Peeta and I... what do we have in common? The fact that we would risk our lives - without doubt - to protect each other.

Peeta is like a dandelion, in a way. The way the dandelion relies on the wind to be dispersed... is like, him having me find him at the lake and bring him back to life - because honestly, there was no way he could have outlasted the others in that rotting bank. I'm the wind. Without wind, there is zero chances of the dandelion being dispersed. The dandelion is totally reliant on the wind. I'm not saying Peeta is weak, but the fact that he was the baker's son and that he always had enough to eat and never starved a day in his life - unlike Gale and I.

Gale is like fire, all it needs is a spark to start the inferno. Kindled age and hatred, yes, but totally strong, destructive... burning anything in its way. Definitely the kind who would start his own uprising against the Capitol as long as he has the spark. Me, I'm the spark. I imagined how things would have turned out if it was me and Gale who were in the Games, instead of Peeta... Maybe I would have died. Or maybe Gale. One of us would be victor. One of us would caring for both families. But this scenario could also have happened if I hadn't held out those berries...

These thoughts confused me and caused an aching in my heart... I didn't know what to think... I see the note Gale had told Haymitch to leave in my house. I picked it up, read it over again, wondering what I should tell him.

"_Hey Catnip. I'm over at District 2 right now, working my ass off. But I'm writing this for an __answer from you. I don't expect you to reply me immediately, but, think about it and call me. I'll be waiting for your call."_

The note was short, but Gale had never been one to beat around the bush.

Even though he didn't mention the question, I know perfectly well what the question was: Gale or Peeta?

**What do you think? Leave a review! **


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Katniss' POV

I turned my head only to see Peeta at the door, with an entire batch of his cookies. He lay the tray on my table, pretending not to notice how tense I was. I stared down at the cookies. Each one of them is beautifully decorated with icing of different colors - pink, yellow, green, blue. "Thank you, Peeta. These are lovely."

There was something in his eyes that told me he wasn't just dropping by to deliver cookies. I braced myself for what was coming next. It was like he was trying to avoid the topic too as he poured a cup of hot chocolate for the both of us. He set the cups on the table, right next to the cookies. He took a seat; I did too.

I reach out for a cookie but his hand stops me., holding me there. He looks me in the eye and I try to avoid them. I knew what was coming before it hit me. Peeta whispers, "You love me. Real or not real?"

He looks me in the eye, not pressing, not crazed like it was when he tried to kill me, but genuinely curious. Those blue eyes... the memories they bring back... when he confessed his love for me in the interview with Ceasar... when we were in the cave in the first Games... those blue eyes had always stayed the same. Never changing.

But I felt a lump in my throat and tears welled up in my eyes. The words that came out of my mouth were barely audible, "Peeta, I'm sorry." Hot wet tears rolled down my cheeks as I released his grip on my hand. I ran out the door, not having a place in mind to go. Only knowing that I had to get away. From Peeta. From those sad blue eyes. They weren't disappointed, just sad, longing.

I scolded myself for the way I reacted. No, that was my decision, but not that way. Breaking his heart, running away.

_"Because... because... she came here with me."_

_"I know what blood poisoning is, Katniss, even if my mother isn't a healer."_

_"Oh let's see. I guess the first day of school. We were five. You had on a red plaid dress and your hair... it was in two braids instead of one. My father pointed you out when we were waiting to line up. He said, 'See that little girl? I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner.' And I said, 'A coal miner? Why would she want a coal miner if she could've had you?' And he said, 'Because when he sings... even the birds stop to listen.' So that day, in music assembly, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She stood you on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I swear, every bird outside the windows fell silent. And right when your song ended, I knew - just like your mother - I was a goner."_

Everything he had ever said played in my mind like a broken recorder. The tears stream down my face profusely.

Before I even knew where I was, I found myself boarding a plane to District 2.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Katniss' POV

"The plane will be landing in fifteen minutes time."

The emotionless voice jolted me back to my senses. What was I doing here? To break Peeta's heart? In my mind, I see the look on Peeta's face whenever I talked about Gale. No, not jealousy. Just longing - I realize I've seen that look on him too many times - longing that he was that boy I talked about, the boy I'd spent hours with in the woods, setting snares, shooting rabbits and deers, collecting edible plants... I realize - again - I hurt, too, when I see that look on his face. For a second, I hate myself for causing him hurt.

I weighed my happiness against his own. I replayed moments in the first Games, where he teamed up with the Careers to protect me. When he told me to run after I had dropped the nest of tracker jackers on him, knowing Cato would be on him in a minute. Getting cut by Cato... Whispering my name in his sleep as he beckoned for death by the river bank... He was selfless. While I, I took on an ally, blew up the Careers' food supply, dropped nests - all I cared about was about my own life, whether I would make it out alive to go back to my mother, Prim... Gale.

Peeta's love for me... was not just a strategy in the Games. It was true. I should have known that. Ever since the day in the cave... when he told me how he fell in love with me. For the audience. A small part, well... maybe more than a small part... of the story was true. Absolutely true. Making me realize that maybe, just maybe, he was really, genuinely in love with me.

During the Games, I had always ruled that out as a possibility, knowing only one of us can live and what good would it do even if I knew the truth? Especially during the Quarter Quell, where only one - or none at all - of us could live. But now. I'd always been with Peeta for the Capitol. For President Snow. But the only thing that's left of the Capitol is the smoldering remains. Nothing. The force that had been holding Peeta and me together is gone.

I could be with anyone now. Peeta. Or Gale. The choice is mine. But who would I choose?

"The plane is landing now. Please buckle your seatbelts."

_Peeta. Gale. Peeta. Gale. Peeta. Gale. The boy with the bread. The boy I spent four years in the woods with. _I have to choose. My decision would affect either Peeta or Gale. But... but... it would affect me too. I'm choosing my future. Would I want to make a decision just to please everybody? Or would I want to choose whoever makes me happier? All my life, I've been trying to please people. Make them happy. It was a job. Trying to please Prim and my mother so they wouldn't worry. Telling Prim I'd try to win for her. Acting like I'm in love with my fellow tribute, Peeta Mellark to please President Snow. And even when I'm with the rebels, I had to please President Snow just so I wouldn't lose the immunity of Peeta, Annick, Johanna...

And I realize... I'm tired of trying to please people. I'll do what I want. I'm no longer being controled by the Capitol.

When the plane lands, I know exactly where I want to go.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Katniss' POV

Confusion mixed with delight is clearly shown on his face as I step into the spacious room. It's lined with computers and alot of other technical gadgets I don't recgonize. "Hey Catnip," came his usual greeting. Inevitably, a smile spreads across my face. After all that happened - the Games, the uprisings - this part of Gale and me hasn't changed. This is one of my favorite things about Gale. Nothing can unhinge him. But my moment of happiness is overtaken by my realisation of how hurt Peeta would be.

I wonder if he would fight for me or would he tell me to go on, be happy, marry Gale? I hope for the latter. I can't stand for him to be hurt. I find myself wishing he meets another girl who can make him happier than I make him, but a pang of jealously hits me and I scold myself in my head for being so selfish.

"You're just going to stand there or are you going to take a seat?" Gale nods toward a swivel chair and I take a seat. "I see you've made your decision."

"Yeah, I can't believe I've chosen someone who can't even pronounce my name right after five years instead of some sweet innocent boy who would die for me."

"Ha, then what made you me, Katniss? I am such a good kisser?" he asks in a teasing tone but I find some truth behind it.

"I love you, Gale," I tell him.

"I know," he whispers as he rises from his seat, pulling me up from my chair till my chest is against his. My lips search for his. Seconds, minutes, possibly hours pass before the buzzing of a telephone on Gale's desk pulls us apart. The kiss felt like heaven. I felt like I was floating. In wonderland. It was the first kiss with any boy that I had without feeling guilty. It was so good, I was angry at whoever called. But as Gale puts the phone down, I see that his lips are white and quivering. My first instinct told me something bad has happened.

"Gale," I whisper. "Who was that?"

"Let's go!" Gale grabs his coat, grabs me by my arm and we're out the door. My heart starts to pound. Beads of sweat forms on my forehead, palms - everywhere imaginable. Who's in trouble? My mother? Haymich? Suddenly, it feels like my air supply had been cut off and I'm gasping for air as Gale leads me through a glass door. I have no bearings until I hear the roar of the wheels of the plane pushing off, sending us hundreds of feet into the air. Sending us back to District 12.

It's Peeta.

"Gale..." I barely whispered.

"Yes," he confirms my suspicions. A strangled cry flies out my mouth before I can stop myself. I bury my face in my hands and tears flow uncontrollaby. Gale attempts to calm me. Tells me what happened. Apparently Peeta was depressed after I left and tried to take it upon himself. Blame himself for everything. He was simply so agitated he tried to kill himself but Haymitch rushed there after he found I left and kept any forms of weapons from Peeta. Having nothing to kill himself with, he rammed his skull into a glass cabinet.

_Peeta. Dead. Because of me. Because I chose Gale. Because I was selfish. I wanted myself to be happy. _

"Katniss. Katniss!" Gale pulls my hands away from me. Then only, I realize my palms are bleeding. I release the pressure of my fingernails. _No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening. No!_

"Are we supposed to be back for the funeral or something?" I ask.

"Katniss," he says, shaking me. "he's alive."

Relief floods through me. He's alive. But no doubt he's hurt. Mentally and physically. Because of me. How silly of me to think that I would no longer be hurting people once the war was over; once the Capitol fell. I'm wrong. How stupid of me. I'm a killer. An animal. A mutt.

"I should be dead," I mutter into my hands. Gale pulls me up and leans my head against his chest. I don't resist. "I'm hurting everyone."

"You are, but that's just how it is. Every decision made will hurt people. But it's the end that matters."

I remain silent. If I die, everything will be solved. Peeta won't be grieving over the fact that I chose Gale over him and Gale would probably find another girl. Perfect. A world without Kantniss Everdeen would be perfect.


End file.
